It is against this vice, which is now spreading like a subtle poison
through all grades of society, that the present work is directed. The
author is not a mere theorist. He speaks from experience--dark and
bitter experience. The things he has seen he tells; the words he has
heard he speaks again. Some of these scenes curdle the blood in the
veins, even when remembered; some of these words, whenever whispered,
recall incidents of singular atrocity, and thrill the bosom with horror.

The author professes to speak nothing but the plain truth. He does not
aspire to an elegant style of writing, adorned with the ornaments of the
orator and the scholar; but to one quality may lay claim, without being
thought a vain or immodest man. He speaks with an earnest sincerity.
Whatever he says comes from his heart, and is spoken with all the
sympathy of his soul.

This work differs from all the previous works of the author. Indeed, it
is unlike any thing ever published in this country. It is not a mere
exposure of gambling, nor yet an attack on the character of particular
gamblers. It is a revelation of a wide-spread organization--pledged to
gambling, theft, and villany of all kinds. There are at the present time
existing, in our Union, certain organizations, pledged to the
performance of good works, which merit the hearty approbation of every
honest man. These are called secret societies, although their
proceedings, and the names of the officers, with minute particulars, are
published in a thousand shapes. Prominent among these beneficial orders
stand the Odd Fellows and the Sons of Temperance. But the order, whose
history is related in the following pages, differs from all these. Its
proceedings, the names of its members or its officers, and even its very
existence as a body, have hitherto been secret, and sealed from the
whole world. Besides, it is pledged to accomplish all kinds of robbery,